


new years

by orphan_account



Category: T70S, That '70s Show, buddy morgan - Fandom, eric forman - Fandom
Genre: Dont expect anything good, Fluff, Fluff With Happy Ending, Happy Ending, M/M, New Years, Not Beta'd, Not betad, Second Kiss, Um i think thats all, btw i have to explain smthn in the summary so yk read it pls, i wrote this from 2 am to 6 am im sorry for how bad this is, idk how to say it, idk uh, im tired what tags am i supposed to add, im tireddddddddd, jk i do i need validation, smoking mentions tw, this is gonna flop asf but idc, this ship deserves more fanwork
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:29:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24038902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: what happens when you mic buddy morgan with his crush and former friend eric forman in a new years eve party?so i've been informed this isn't a thing everywhere, so basically a new years tradition here where i live is that everyine gets a cup of twelve grapes, and you have The First Minute of the year to eat them all and make wishes inbetween. you have to eat them all in that minute or else the wishes 'don't work'. sorry if it didn't make sense but it doesn't get explained again so rip
Relationships: Eric Forman & Donna Pinciotti, Eric Forman & Steven Hyde, Eric Forman/Buddy Morgan, Jackie Burkhart & Buddy Morgan, Jackie Burkhart & Eric Forman, Jackie Burkhart & Michael Kelso, Steven Hyde & Buddy Morgan, Steven Hyde & Michael Kelso
Comments: 6
Kudos: 80





	new years

**Author's Note:**

> hope you liked it?? my twitter is @ceoofhomo so a h a don't be shy and follow me

it was new years. or new years eve, whatever. 

the ambience was loud, not normally buddy’s crowd, but not that big of a deal honestly. he was surrounded by people he didn’t know, but that also meant they most likely hadn’t heard the rumors regarding his sexuality. or at least that they wouldn’t bring it up. 

he hadn’t even wanted to come, but his parents and jackie’s parents were like the best of friends so, instead of celebrating new years eve with a nice comic or movie, he was in the most overwhelming living room he’d seen, surrounded by slightly tipsy adults. the music was as boring as could be, so he just stood off to the side, playing with a flute of champagne jackie’s maid had given him. the first half an hour or so after he arrived he had been coddled by all the mothers, with too-spoiled children to let themselves be pinched and prodded as much. 

unlike them, buddy unfortunately had been raised to be respectful.

apparently jackie was in another room with her friends, but buddy didn’t want to risk being stuck with her girl group of friends, just in case it wasn’t the ‘eric’ group. so, he stayed put. besides, if he went to eric he’d probably be blown off which would be equally as embarrassing as it would be hurtful. so yeah he really wasn’t that eager to be going anywhere.

at about 11 pm, jackie passed by the ‘adults’ room, presumably to go to the bathroom or sneak a beer, but stopped in her tracks as she saw buddy.

oh no

“buddy!” she exclaimed, a wide smile blossoming on her face. jackie bounded over, the ends of her simple, red dress flowing behind her. once she was near, he felt slightly overwhelmed by the scent of her perfume and beer on her breath. buddy smiled. “hi, jackie,” 

“what are you doing here? why aren’t you over there with the gang? oh, let me guess, you dumped eric.”

buddy blushed bright red for a moment, his brain short circuiting whilst he just asked a simple what? jackie simply giggled “did he show you all of his dolls? ugh he’s such a dork.” even though her words were mean, jackie’s tone was free of any ill intent, and she was actually smiling fondly. “um yeah, i just didn’t know in what direction to go,” buddy chuckled. it was clearly a lie, but jackie didn’t care enough to ask, instead she just grabbed him by the arm and pulled him right where she had come from.

the room was down the hall, extremely simple to have found, but still, jackie didn’t say anything. 

as the door opened, and they entered, buddy took in the room.  
the lights were dimmer, the music muffled by the walls between this room and the other. it felt slightly suffocated, so buddy imagined they had probably smoked shortly before he had come, but apart from that there wasn’t much difference besides the rooms. The walls had the same ugly design, there was a set of couches off-centered, and tyere was a grand, dark brown piano. except this one, instead of having an elderly couple, had a younger couple, donna and eric. buddy winced slightly.

hyde turned towards the door, probably looking for jackie, just to narrow his eyes at buddy. oh, fun.

“jackie, babe, what is he doing here?” seethed hyde, as he crossed the short distance, and placed an arm around the girl, all the while not taking his eyes off of buddy. by now kelso was also looking, seeing as he had been with hyde when buddy had arrived. fez was sure to turn and most likely would draw the attention of donna and him. if he were to make his escape it had to be quick. “sorry, hyde, didn’t mean to ruin your party, i just um wanted to-”

“hyde don’t be mean, buddy’s cool!” jackie let go of his arm and closed the distance between herself and hyde, hugging him whilst placing her chin on his chest, probably giving her infamous puppy dog eyes. hyde caved surprisingly quickly. last he remembered jackie had been dating kelso and hyde hated her about as much as he hated buddy. apparently not.

“well i should probably go, because um my mom doesn’t know where i am and if she wants to leave i should be ready an-” he was cut off by hyde groaning. “man, chill, you’d probably have more friends if you weren’t such a wuss.” buddy didn’t bother to defend himself because it wasn’t like he had that many friends to back himself up, so he just shoved his hand into his coat pockets. “whatever,” 

as the couple walked back to the couch set, buddy hesitated sweeping his eyes around the room. if he sat alone he’d definitely look like a loser and although he didn’t specifically want to impress anyone it still wouldn’t hurt to not do that. he would definitely not go to the couple flirting on the piano, so he didn’t really have much of a choice. he was going to settle in the couch.

buddy choose to sit on the corner of the couch opposite kelso, who was sprawled all over it. he was besides fez, and hyde and jackie’s loveseat. it was still so weird to see him dating, much less dating jackie, but who was he to judge- the only guy he’d kissed was currently with his girlfriend.

buddy turned to fez and michael, who were entertaining a conversation on what they’d do this year, their goals, and all of that.

“I’m gonna smoke a blunt everyday. maybe get a promotion in the restaurant,” cut in Hyde. buddy doubted he’d be able to smoke everyday, due to money and health complications, but he simply nodded lightly and smiled. “what about you, morgan? you finally gonna grow a pair?” kelso choked from where he was, exclaiming a loud “BURN!” whilst he just shrugged.

hyde had a shit eating grin on his face, eyes obscured by his glasses but most likely shining with pride. buddy rolled his eyes lightly, he didn’t want to ‘let hyde win’ but he also didn’t want to stir the pot, so he settled to just explaining. “i’m probably just gonna apply to about 700 million different universities and colleges and work a summer job.” 

hyde snorted “are your parents cutting you out of the will?” asked jackie, mostly innocently. 

“no, but i still wanted to have the experience because-”  
“wait so if you are being given a lot of free money, why would you work?” asked fez, looking buccy up and down. “i don’t know, i just wanted to have an experience before i completely up and left point place.”

“wait you’re moving out?” buddy turned to see donna and eric had accommodated themselves on the other end of the couch. it was possible for him to not notice seeing as the piano would’ve been just out of his line of sight, and their movement could’ve just been blamed on fez, who was between them. “of course he is, eric, he actually has potential and the means!” exclaimed jackie, throwing her hands out, accidentally hitting hyde in the process. buddy snorted.

hyde grabbed jackie’s hand in his own and covered it with his other hand, before placing it on his lap. buddy was not used to this side of hyde. at all. he turned back to eric.

“yeah, i am, eric. why is that a problem?” he teased lightly, a ball forming in his throat as he tried to ignore donna and his own stares. they’re staring at you because you’re talking supplied his brain supportively, but he couldn’t really roll the stress off of his back.

“um- uh no man, not at all i just didn’t know you were gonna” eric trailed off, fidgeting the tiniest bit, before looking back at buddy “that’s great, man,” eric smiled.

buddy smiled back, before looking at donna as she spoke up “oh how beautiful it must be to move out- go to all these different places and learn. it’d be amazing.”

“where do you wanna go donna?” asked buddy, not sure from where he got the courage to talk to donna. “i don’t know- i mean just about any place is better than point place, but i wanna go places, do important, revolutionary stuff.” buddy nodded in appreciation, her ambition was somewhat awe-inspiring, and he could clearly see the stars in her eyes. donna, much to buddy’s disappointment, was easily likeable.

“i just wanna see another star wars movie,” commented eric, causing multiple groans and a few chuckles from the group. “what?” he exclaimed, though he still laughed when donna shoved him lightly.

buddy found it was surprisingly easy to talk to eric’s friends, which he didn’t know what to think of, so he didn’t. the hour before midnight passed quickly enough, and soon enough they all had their own glass filled with twelve grapes. as buddy, jackie, fez and eric were re-entering the room with the glasses for everybody, eric nudged buddy slightly. buddy turned, stopping momentarily “what’s up, eric?” eric nodded down the hallway and told buddy to follow him. “what, you got so jealous i stole your friends that you’re gonna kill me or-” 

“no!” exclaimed eric, chuckling nervously “i just um, i have to talk to you.”

yup, buddy’s heart was definitely beating that fast. damn it. 

“hey if this is about what happened in like, september, you don’t have to worry about it i’m not gonna like, make a move on you or anything i just-” buddy cut himself off with an oomf as he was shoved lightly. “hey,” he exclaimed jokingly “almost dropped my magical grapes,” eric laughed, but stubbornly refused to talk. yup, this was weird. 

“um, so, what happened last year. are you like with someone?”

“sorry?” “oh n o i didn’t- i uh didn’t mean like you-you changing just like if you were still sing-”

“shut up eric.”

“shutting up.”

they both stood in silence for about five seconds, before eric took a breath in, probably ready to go off on his original rant, or just talk until he felt better. buddy cut him off before he even began “no, i’m not dating anyone, though i don’t know why it’s so important i mean you have donna.” eric looked relieved for half a second, before looking at buddy as if he’d just suggested luke and leia were the worst ship.

“what?” he asked, which caused buddy to just shake his head, before beginning to turn around to leave. “if you were just gonna be weird about it eric, you shouldn’t have called me over.” 

“no, wait!” called eric hurriedly, turning around to grab buddy by the shoulder with a surprising amount of strength. buddy could’ve easily left, because it was still eric, but it was still a surprising amount. “yes, eric?” honestly buddy was getting kind of annoying with all of the back and forth, eric was a really good friend, yes, and the fact that he didn’t out him or immediately stop talking to him was better than most others, but it didn’t make this any less easy to deal with.

“i just, i miss you? like, i know i was the one who um stopped reaching out but i swear i didn’t mean to-”

“eric, it’s fine! you don’t owe me this huge apology with a twelve hour explanation- yeah it was shitty that you just up and left without a reason but i’m fine,” buddy chuckled “i’m a big boy,” eric chuckled, before rubbing the nape of his neck awkwardly. “yeah, um right, i know that but i miss you.” buddy looked up to see eric already looking at him, an intense undertone to his stare. he took a stuttered breath in, before looking down. it was about to be midnight. new years. they should go back to the rest, if they were to stumble here looking for them, they’d just find them standing in a hallway like idiots. but, buddy really wanted to just enjoy it a little bit more.

buddy took it all in, the atmosphere, the suffocated air that, for the first time all day, wasn’t that suffocating, the feeling of eric’s presence besides him, everything. “we should probably head back, your girlfriend’s gonna-!

“donna’s not my girlfriend.”

“huh?”

“donna. you keep saying she’s my girlfriend but she’s...she’s not.”

buddy gulped. he didn’t know what to say. “um, sorry man.” “don’t be,”

he turned to eric, only to find him with a relaxed expression. a relaxed expression of all things- it made buddy want to punch him about as much as he wanted to kiss him. they sat in silence for a few seconds, watching the people roam around the living room that was located way down the hall. they were hidden from sight in the darkness, but they could still see everyone else, which was...nice. it felt private and special and unique and buddy wanted to keep it that way, so he refrained from speaking, too scared to ruin the moment.

buddy checked the clock on the wall. 11:56. if he wanted to leave and go back to the rest, right now was the time. did he want to leave though?

it was nice here. it was nice to be with eric. they hadn’t talked in so long and it had been hurtful to just be left in the past, so if this was a friendship he could remake, he’d take his chances. even if there was only a semester left.

but, there was also something...different now. maybe it was the fact that eric knew buddy was gay, maybe it was the fact that buddy was moving, or maybe it was just buddy making it all up in his head.

it was too late to go back, he’d left his cup of grapes, he’d have no wishes. the clock kept ticking, it felt so heavy- he couldn’t even see the hand that marked the seconds on the clock clearly, but he felt it’s every movement, it was all leading up to...something. glancing at eric, buddy chuckled tightly, before speaking up “looks like i’m gonna miss out on my 12 wishes this year,”

eric barely even glanced at buddy before extending his arm with his own cup. “here, take six.” buddy blushed lightly.

“i can’t take your grapes, forman!” joked buddy, pushing his hand back softly “neither of our wishes will work if we don’t eat all 12 grapes.”  
“oh, that sucks. you have them, then,” 

“no! they’re your grapes, you take them dude.” 

eric shook his head “nah, i’ve already got everything i need, i mean first of all there’s star wars!” buddy snorted at him, shoving him. “you’re such a dork, eric.” buddy’s and eric’s snickers slowly faded away, as they stood there, just staring at each other for a few seconds.

“it’s gonna be 12 anytime soon,” reminded buddy absentmindedly, searching eric’s eyes for something- anything. “yeah, it will,” was he foolish for even trying to look? was this all a big mistake? a lead up to disappointment? he shouldn’t step closer, he’s just setting himself up for heartbreak. but then why is eric also taking a step?

they were in the middle of the hallway, it was so easy to get caught, to be seen. ridiculed. buddy couldn’t care less. the way eric was looking at him- it was like when donna had been talking about traveling the world- except the look was being directed at him. at buddy morgan. how...impossible.

the clock struck twelve, and there were shouts of joy, and a song blasting even louder than before but buddy could’ve been deaf because he didn’t hear. or, he didn’t care enough to, because the second the the clock hit twelve it was like the atmosphere broke, exploded due to the tension, and eric had taken the first step this time.

buddy had taken a slight step backwards, trying to regain his footing, seeing as a taller boy was now leaning into him, kissing him.

buddy could be dead and he wouldn’t’ve cared in the slightest because here he was, in a fancy, pretentious house, with just a guy, kissing him, arms wrapped messily, yet tightly around his neck, pulling him down to his height.

it was an innocent kiss, just lip on lip, but it was so charged that buddy knew he could rival even the sun with his energy high. 

when he had kissed eric way back in the car it had been good, yeah, but it didn’t feel as good as now- to have it confirmed that eric liked him too. that eric wanted to kiss him too. maybe his classmates were onto something every time they cut class to kiss their partners, because this was so worth flunking history.

after finally breaking apart, the two heaved lightly, breathless with shock. the kiss couldn’t have lasted more than a few seconds, but it was still magical. buddy looked up to meet eric’s eyes to see that dumbfounded look he always saw in the movies. buddy breathed eric in, before slowly letting his arms fall, taking a step back.

he wiped his lips as eric looked down nervously at his cup of grapes that had somehow managed to keep all twelve of it’s grapes inside of it. buddy took one out and bit into it. “turns out i didn’t need any wishes either.” he mumbled, smiling lightly.


End file.
